SPARTAN SERIES #227: “FAILURE IS NOT THE OPPOSITE OF SUCCESS IT’S PART OF SUCCESS!”

Let’s face it! Winners are made from the earth from which the have sprung. The environment that nurtures the winners is the crucible that teaches them the feelings of failure and the rebound emotion to never fail at something again. Like somebody said, somewhere in my past, “in order to get back to the surface, you have to push hard off the bottom.” Being at our lowest point is not a resting place. It is a starting place! We correct our position by pushing off the bottom and overcoming the depth of our fall, the water’s resistance, and we keep our eyes on the surface as we ascend. Failing is part of winning because it teaches us why we failed in the first place, what needs to be done to insure that it never happens again, and what we can do differently from this point forward.

I recall when I first met my bodybuilding coach, Justin Dees. I was transfixed by the size of the great bodybuilders that I began to come in contact with. I weighed about 176 lbs at the time. I told Justin that I wanted to get as big as possible. Justin smiled wryly and said, “Let’s go!, If you want to be big here’s what we are going to do? He started me on a diet with over 7,000 Calories in it. He had me lifting as hard as I could. My cheat meals were immense. After about 3 months my weight was 210 lbs and I was fat! My muscles grew to gigantic proportions for my small frame but they were covered with tons of fat. My poor wife was trying to accommodate my newly gained dimensions with clothes that were suddenly available only from “OMAR THE TENT MAKER.” One day justin smiled at me smugly and said, “are we done yet?” Hard lesson for me! Listen to your coach and put away idiotic ideas. Since then I competed between 176 lbs. and 195 lbs. and have won several times and I just finished my 21st show a year ago. Side notes for learning: During this time I developed high blood pressure, reflux esophagitis, sleep apnea. — Listen to your coach. But, the lessons were not wasted. They propelled me forward in ways I could not have imagined.

There’s an old saying, “I never lose. If I’m not winning, I’m learning!” None of us are losers if we learn from our mistakes and our failures.

Bottom Line: Win, lose, or draw. The time spent and the lessons learned are etched into your mind and character forever. But “Do” try to never repeat a mistake…If you repeat a mistake it only means that you learned nothing from the first failure.